law briefs
Dear Suffolk Law alumni and friends:
Since our founding in 1906, Suffolk Law has continuously adapted to a changing world. In fact, our very creation was a response to the arrival of millions of immigrants who came to the United States seeking a better life. When they faced barriers to a legal education due to their identities or the need to work during the day, Suffolk Law opened its doors.
We have innovated many times since then, and each time, we have done so in service of our founding mission: offering students from all backgrounds and circumstances an outstanding practice-oriented legal education that prepares them for professional success. This issue of Suffolk Law Alumni Magazine highlights a few of the ways we remain at the forefront of change.
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Photograph by Michael J. Clarke
winter 2024
Embracing Disruptive Technology
Dean Andrew Perlman
Our cover story highlights a particularly potent source of disruption, both in the legal profession and beyond. Over the last year, ChatGPT and other kinds of generative artificial intelligence have taken the world by storm, awakening many lawyers to AI’s potential impact.
The prospect of an imminent reimagining of legal services may have caught some lawyers by surprise, but Suffolk Law is ready. A decade ago, we created our Institute on Legal Innovation & Technology so that we could better prepare our students for the future of law practice. We understood even then that the next generation of lawyers would need to employ emerging tools and new ways of thinking in order to thrive in the coming decades.
At around the same time, we established the nation’s first Legal Innovation & Technology (LIT) Concentration. Students in the concentration learn increasingly important concepts for modern lawyers, ranging from legal project management and process improvement to legal document automation and data analytics. As a result of these and related efforts, National Jurist magazine named Suffolk Law as the top law school in the country for legal tech on two consecutive occasions. Just this year, Bloomberg Law named the Concentration to its Top 10 Law School Innovators list, placing a spotlight on how we are preparing graduates to pursue professional opportunities that did not even exist a generation ago.
Suffolk Law’s top-20 ranked clinical programs are also at the forefront of change. One example is our Legal Innovation and Technology Lab (LIT Lab), a new kind of clinic that looks quite a bit different from what many alumni may remember. LIT Lab clients are courts and legal service providers who want to use new technology and innovative methods to better address the public’s legal needs. These clients enlist the award-winning LIT Lab to implement novel solutions, such as the automation of commonly used Massachusetts state court forms.
Our top-5 ranked Legal Practice Skills Program (LPS), which celebrated its 50th anniversary this fall, similarly advances Suffolk Law’s forward-thinking approach. Among other examples, legal writing faculty are already introducing students to generative AI, including how it can be used for legal research. Later this year, students will have to revise a ChatGPT-generated legal analysis so that they can learn what these tools can and (even more importantly) cannot yet do.
Teaching Cutting-Edge Skills
Teaching students about innovation and technology is just one of many ways Suffolk Law has updated its curriculum in response to modern practice. Another good example is how we responded to what our alumni have told us about the new business challenges that they face, ranging from marketing in a digital age to new legal service delivery models.
To ensure that our students can handle these kinds of issues when they graduate, we established the award-winning Accelerator-to-Practice program about a decade ago. The program teaches students not just how to represent clients, but how to address the business aspects of a successful solo practice or small firm. The Accelerator offers a unique way for students to prepare for a modern legal profession, including internships that expose them to the business of law practice, placements in our in-house clinic, and opportunities to consult with law firm leaders about the challenges they face.
Addressing Business Realities of Practice
As you read about these and related developments in the current issue of the Suffolk Law Alumni Magazine, you will discover the many ways that we continue to advance our longstanding mission. In 1906, Suffolk Law founder Gleason Archer sought to reimagine legal education, and that innovative ethos has endured. At a time of profound social and technological transformation, Suffolk Law’s ongoing willingness to embrace change has never been more important.
Andrew Perlman
Dean & Professor of Law
Continuing the Tradition
